Pierre de lune | Malandain Ballet

Pierre de lune Malandain / Britten

Solo performed on 24 April 1998 at the Esplanade Opéra de Saint-Etienne in a lyrical programme based on solitude directed by Antoine Bourseiller combining the French creation of Phaedra by Benjamin Britten and La Voix humaine by Francis Poulenc.

Accompanied by four of the Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge, Op.10, by Benjamin Britten, Pierre de Lune [Moonstone] is a languid and violent solo which evokes an abandoned woman’s solitude. Like a piece of a distant star, the moonstone becomes the subject of a memory.

Thierry Malandain

Performed on 24 April 1998

at the Esplanade Opéra de Saint-Etienne

Music Benjamin Britten

Choreography, set and costumes Thierry Malandain

Lighting design Oswald Roose

Full length of the performance 10 minutes

Ballet for 1 dancer

Dancer Nathalie Verspecht

Video by Georges Flores

document (pdf) Available soon

"[…] in Pierre de Lune (Moonstone), the audience is invited to watch a poetic view of solitude. A dancer, Nathalie Verspecht, converses with a stone…to superb music by Benjamin Britten, between dread and attraction, she dances around the heavy and distant rock, strokes it or pushes it away, flees it or charms it, and ends up losing herself. "

La Tribune, Dominique Bardel, 26 April 1998

[…] Then came emotional moments. Thierry Malandain moves from laughter to tears with Pierre de lune, a languid and violent solo which evokes an abandoned woman’s solitude. Despite technical difficulties which interrupted the dancer forcing her to start her performance over again, the audience was spellbound watching the young girl’s gracefulness and the intensity of her movements. It’s definitely the part of the most applauded moment of the show. “Bravos” filled the air and some even described it as an outstanding show.

Le Courrier, D.N., 21 January 1999

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